India will organize a major part of cricket's World Cup in 2011 after Pakistan was stripped of co-hosting rights, the International Cricket Council said on Tuesday. The showpiece event awarded to South Asia was thrown into turmoil earlier this month after the ICC removed Pakistan as a host nation due to security concerns, following the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March. The ICC moved swiftly to put the tournament back on track, giving India a majority of matches with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh retained as co-hosts. “We are confident of organizing a very successful World Cup,” ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat told reporters after a meeting of the tournament's organizing committee here. “The security arrangements are very important,” Lorgat said. “We have no doubts we will be able to put all security plans in place for 2011 World Cup under the guidance of the security directorate.” The World Cup secretariat was shifted from Lahore to Mumbai, while the Indian cricket board official Ratnakar Shetty was appointed the event's managing director in place of Pakistani banker Salman Butt. India will host 29 matches (of 49) at eight venues, including one quarterfinal, a semifinal and the final, Lorgat said. Sri Lanka will organize 12 matches at three venues, including a quarterfinal and semifinal, while Bangladesh gets eight games at two venues. The Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka will host the opening ceremony on Feb. 18 and the tournament opener the next day, besides two quarterfinal matches. Pakistan was initially allotted 14 matches. The organizing committee, headed by ICC vice president Sharad Pawar of India, will include an operations and planning group comprising Bangladesh official Mahboob Alam, Indian board secretary N. Srinivasan, Sri Lanka's Duleep Mendis and Shetty. Lorgat swept aside questions on whether Pakistan would boycott the World Cup in protest at being denied hosting rights, saying “we will cross the bridge when we come to it.” South Asia previously hosted World Cups in 1987 and 1996.
